


Last Call

by SleepsWithCoyotes



Category: Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alcohol, Archival Fic, Don't copy to another site, M/M, Wordfic Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25227448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepsWithCoyotes/pseuds/SleepsWithCoyotes
Summary: All he has to do is ignore the man.  Again.
Relationships: Cho Hakkai/Sha Gojyo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	Last Call

**Author's Note:**

> Back to working on moving stuff over from the spambot...this one's from probably pre-2005, from a wordfic prompt on my journal. Louise Lux gave me "Hakkai/Gojyo" and "bravado."

It was funny, Hakkai thought, that so many people called alcohol 'liquid courage.' It didn't do anything for him personally, so he could hardly speak from experience, but from what he'd observed, 'courage' had very little to do with it.

'Bravado,' yes.

Gojyo had been playing a good game all night, from a few almost desultory hands of poker at the bar to the way he'd bluffed a pack of would-be muggers into considering less troublesome prey. The alcohol had probably helped in that case. Not that Gojyo wasn't just as proficient with his fists and his staff when he was a few bottles for the worse, but get enough alcohol in him, and it took slightly longer for the next verbal dig to percolate through his brain. When Gojyo wasn't egging his attackers on for the fun of it, sometimes his attempts at intimidation actually worked.

And now they were home--Gojyo's home, he reminded himself out of habit if not belief--and it was ' _one more beer before I turn in, just one. And then maybe one more_.'

Hakkai put the coffee on for himself, keeping his hands busy. Keeping his _eyes_ busy. Gojyo was prowling the apartment, running long fingers over casual surfaces, and it wasn't his imagination that the bottle only made it the full circuit to Gojyo's mouth when Hakkai was watching. Which meant he had to watch it all: the way Gojyo's tongue flicked the rim of the bottle and then dipped inside, there and gone as the bottle tilted up, lips wrapping around the glass and--

Hakkai looked away, shook himself and turned to the cupboards, looking for a mug. Gojyo was a friendly drunk, a compulsive flirt even when sober. All he had to do was ignore the man. Again.

Gojyo chuckled, but there was just a hint of something unexpected, something that wasn't funny at all. Anger, maybe, or self-consciousness. That laugh sounded _tired_.

He didn't get a mug. He didn't pour coffee. He turned back around, slowly, and couldn't for the life of him imagine why he'd ever dismissed that unsurprised but _unafraid_ stare as simple bravado.

Hakkai took a step towards the other man, then another. Now Gojyo looked nervous, but it didn't stop that wonderful grin from spreading, and Hakkai knew a thing or two about the nature of courage.

Taking the bottle from Gojyo's hand, he finished the last swallow himself and set it aside, smiling a little as Gojyo leaned in, chasing that final taste before turning in.


End file.
